Following news reports from across the nation that the past peaceful protests were turned into killing fields by the operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, a call has gone to the Inspector-General of Police to stop his armed operatives from using lethal weapons to attack protesters unprovoked because peaceful assembly is an integral aspect of constitutional democracy.
Nigerians are again getting ready to participate in a nationwide peaceful protests to demand good governance and an end to the continuous costs of living crisis, corruption in government, police brutality, and to demand an end to extrajudicial killings of citizens by armed security forces and these protests are scheduled for June 12th this year.
“The actions of armed police operatives across Nigeria in which the operatives displayed crude tendencies to shoot and kill unarmed and peaceful protesters and the fact that the killers embedded within the Nigeria Police Force are never identified, prosecuted for these murderous offences, have not only perpetuated state sponsored impunity but this action of always attacking peaceful protesters as if they are armed terrorists must stop because the continuous killings of protesters without consequences on the killers have painted Nigeria graphically as a place in which the President who controls the police deploy armed police operatives to kill unarmed protesters.” “It is absolutely intolerable that a nation which professes constitutional democracy but yet the bulk of the citizens are everywhere in chains of economic slavery, injustice, lack of equal opportunities and discrimination of citizens in the areas of job creation and appointments by the President and governors.
The Civil society organisation HURIWA observed with consternation that almost all the past peaceful protests in Abuja were systematically turned chaotic after police officers fired tear gas indiscriminately at protesters even as lethal weapons are routinely used freely to inflict injury and even kill some protesters.
The police on many occasions not only in Abuja but in many parts of Nigeria often fired tear gas and deployed the use of lethal weapons indiscriminately in an attempt to prevent the protesters from accessing the iconic Eagle Square ground in the Three Arms Zone or ever holding peaceful assembly to drum up their objectives and demands to the government of Nigeria in the different parts of the Nigerian Federation.
The Rights group observed that the fact that the use of force to disperse the protesters, have never succeeded in intimidating the peaceful protesters who immediately regrouped to continue their peaceful protests should compel President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to realise the futility of using armed security forces to attempt to muzzle civil rights and the exercise of the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms that are entrenched in chapter 4 of the Nigerian Constitution.
“The fact that Nigeria regards herself as a dedicated member of the United Nations and signed and domesticated international civil rights and human rights laws including the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, the INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS, the AFRICAN CHARTER ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS amongst a plethora of global human rights legislations and treaties should compel the armed forces to comply with the best global practices and end the persistent attacks violently of peaceful protesters. HURIWA restated that the men and women of the Nigerian armed forces and police must comply with the rules of engagement and stop unleashing violence on peaceful citizens.
“We urge the President to give clear, unambiguous instructions and commands to the heads of security forces to stop future attacks on protesters and then allow the protesters have access to safe environment whereby they can hold their peaceful meetings unmolested by the police and other security agencies.
